Easier To Run
by Angelicheartbeats
Summary: Simply being alive is difficult in itself and sometimes life holds the strangest things in store. With a bazaar change of events, childhood friends Alfred and Arthur learn the hard way of how your film-style nightmares can come to life. Only this is real. WARNINGS FOR: Triggers, Angst, Death, Gore and eventual smut. [Written with HylianDeity]
1. Rough Beginnings

Wind howled through the trees with every blow, the soft whistling in time with the tune a small boy hummed as he kicked the stones on the floor with his feet. Hands buried deep in his pockets, his eyes were glued to the ground as he walked. He was far from lonely but today he was just not in the mood for games. In fact, he had his bright blue oceanic eyes set on another prize. Momentarily stopping from kicking the pebbles, he locked his eyes on the prize he was looking for. He had turned down various offers to approach this guy so he sincerely hoped it would be worth it.

Alfred had always dreamt of becoming friends with everybody in his class - the more the merrier as his mother says. The quiet boy buried in a book across the playground was one of the last to cross off his list. He'd heard he was a bit of a reject and didn't have any friends so Alfred had decided to take it upon himself to change that. Feeling particularly confident, he took his hands out of his pockets and strolled on over.

Looking at the book in front of him with a discontented sigh and turning each page slowly the blonde frowned and lazily looked over the large words that were printed on it's thin pages, not paying much attention to the book in front of him and seeing it more of a distraction than anything more. The weather had taken a turn for the worse lately and the warm winds had started to become bitter with cold as the signs of winter were starting to approach more and more quickly every day, making it less than desirable to sit outside. Not that Arthur had much of a choice. The noisy hustle and bustle of the warm lunchroom was not an option, especially with all of the other children from his class inside of it! None of them knew how to behave or speak any quieter than shouting - obviously their parents didn't teach them their proper manners just as his own did.

Shivering from the cold and pulling his jumper down below his palms in an attempt to savour some heat, Arthur quickly glanced up once he heard the noise of footsteps approaching, frowning as he saw another boy heading towards himself; quickly recognising it as one of the pupils from his class. Nobody had approached him before, most quickly lost interesting after the first day he moved to the school, writing Arthur off as uninteresting and dull. Unsure of how to react he quickly turned his attention back to the pages of the book and hoped that the odd boy would leave him alone.

Hands on his hips, Alfred grinned mischievously. He knew nobody had dared to speak to the quiet boy but that aside, he was more than happy to make his day by giving the almighty friendship of the one and only - Alfred F. Jones. Of course, the F standing for "Freedom", after all, he was born on the 4th of July, and not for something old and boring like "Franklin" as his mother told him. Alfred Franklin Jones sounded silly anyway, it was bad enough he was called "Alfred" - what an old-fashioned name. Why couldn't he have a cool name like some of the other boys in his class like Hunter or Joshua or something? But no, he was just plain old Alfred. At least "Al" sounded a little bit cool. Realising he was getting lost in his own thoughts, he turned his attention back to the green-eyed boy who seemed to have noticed him. He frowned when he saw him turn his attention back to the book in his hands. How could that stupid book be more interesting than him? His presence alone should have him fawning in his seat.

Alfred rooted for a sudden more childish turn in events. As he felt so betrayed by the literature in the small boy's hands, quickly, he swiped it from him and held it up so he could get a better look. Wanting to feel smart, he soon pulled a face at the words he didn't understand.

"What're you reading?" he asked slightly mockingly, spinning it around in his hands.

Blinking up in surprise as soon as the book was ever so rudely pulled out of his hands, Arthur scowled and looked up to the blond in front of him. Standing up from the bench he was happy to find he was ever so slightly taller than the boy in front of him, surely that meant he was more important and had more authority therefore should be respected. His brothers always told him that. "You have to respect your elders" And elders meant being taller of course, adults were always taller than him! Especially his father, Arthur hoped he would be as tall as his father one day. Overall it made a lot of sense to Arthur and he was happy that he was able to understand the way his elder brothers spoke, and a sense of achievement was strongly inside of him.

But more importantly whoever this person was they had no right to just snatch his property away from him like that! Didn't anybody tell him that it was rude to act like that?

"H-Hey! Give that back, it's mine!" he frowned seeing no reason to reply to the other boys question, if he was going to act so rudely towards Arthur then he wouldn't dignify him with a response.

"So what?" he responded with a scowl. Who did this kid think he was? Did he even know who he was talking to? How dare he. Looking back at him, he felt slightly intimidated by the boy's height. That didn't seem to halt him though, after all, there was other big kids in his class and he didn't feel intimidated by them so there was no reason to be scared, right Alfred? "Sharing is caring!" He spat this at him; beginning to panic.

Alfred was a loss of what else he could say. He was starting to get distracted by those large eyebrows on his face anyway. Jeez, they were like dead caterpillars on his face - awful! He couldn't help but screw up his face as he attempted to resist a laugh. Yes, thinking about those gigantic monsters on his face was easing the situation for him. Laughing a little, he threw the book back at the blonde boy. "Whatever, it's probably some stupid book anyways,"

Clumsily catching the book as it was suddenly thrown back at him, Arthur held it against his chest tightly so that the other wouldn't be able to take it away again. There was no way he was going to trust him now, not after he had almost stolen his book! Thieves where not to be trusted that was something that he was certain of.

Arthur didn't seem to be able to wipe the scowl from his face as soon as he noticed the boy in front of him was stifling a rather obvious laugh not bothering to turn away or cover up his grin. What was he laughing at anyway?

"It's not a stupid book! You wouldn't understand it anyway..." He paused unsure of what else to say before quickly adding onto his comment "It's for... smart people!" He made sure to put emphasis on the words smart, getting gradually more and more annoyed by the rude Americans presence. Why did he approach him in the first place?!

Alfred frowned. Did he just call him dumb? He most certainly was not dumb at all, no way, he was totally the smartest kid on the block and if was going to battle him in a battle of wits he would most definitely win! See look, he did know smart words. Plus, there was always the fact he was a proud American and nothing said America better than freedom and intelligence. He had both! Well, that and perhaps burgers. Now he was getting hungry thinking about food. Judging from the other boy's accent he clearly wasn't American at all, teacher did say he was from some other country but what did other countries matter anyway? No country was better than good ol' United States in Alfred's opinion.

"I'm smart!" he quickly protested, pointing to himself by banging his fist lightly on his chest and leaning towards him. "If anyone is stupid it's you! Everybody knows the books with pictures are the best," Of course, he meant comic books - the ones with superheroes were the best. He was going to be a comic book artist when he grew up anyway, it was guaranteed!

Arthur almost scoffed at the others words. He wasn't exactly sure what he meant by "books with pictures" but if he had any clue to what the blond was talking about, it was probably those silly comic books Arthur often saw the other children from his class reading. There was definitely nothing smart about that! He himself had tried to read one of them before, and a lot of the women inside of the comics almost had almost no clothing on! That was definitely indecent, but maybe that's why they liked looking at those books... Arthur didn't understand the fascination in it, there was nothing better than a proper book! Nothing like those stupid comic books with half naked women inside of them.

"I am not stupid!" He clutched the book tighter to his chest getting frustrated at the conversation and feeling the pages bend against his fingertips. "There's nothing stupid about reading books! Those comic books are just silly... They aren't even real!"

He ended up folding his arms as the other boy spoke. Somehow he'd gone into that mode where everything the other boy said sounded like "blah blah blah I'm a stupid foreign boy I don't know anything because I'm not American". Deep in his gut somewhere he sort of liked the other kid, he hadn't had this sort of conflict for a long time. Other children in his class tended to kiss the ground he walked on - he was popular after all even if he was little bit chubby and short but he was cute! (That's what the girls said anyway before squealing something about cooties and running away. Girls were weird.) Even if he looked easy to bully, he liked to think he had quite the fist on him, that's what the other kids got if they picked on his brother anyway. He knew this blonde boy had gone too far when he had started insulting his precious comic books. He had stepped one step too many over the line.

"Comic books aren't silly! They're totally real!" he yelled at him, feeling slightly insulted and tears beginning to prick at the edges of his eyes. He didn't like to think about the fact he was a bit of a cry baby; how uncool. Desperately he wiped at his eyes during the battle he was beginning to lose. "Superman would hate you! Non-believer!"

Arthur faltered as soon as tears pricked at the edges of the American's eyes slightly taken aback by his sudden angered tone - even if he had deserved it for stealing his book, it still didn't seem right! It did not seem okay to make another person cry, he knew his parents would certainly agree with that... but there was no way Arthur was going to forgive the other boy so quickly! The American shouldn't of insulted his book and tried to take it away from him if he hadn't wanted Arthur to yell at him as well, especially since Arthur had been right all along. The person who should be apologising was him, but Arthur was not stupid and knew the other boy was much too stubborn to apologize.

"Superheroes can't be real! My brothers told me that things in comics aren't real and they wouldn't be wrong! Older people are always right, the people on TV are always right, and they're older." he insisted, smiling somewhat arrogantly that he had such a clear and completely factual reason behind his statement. There was no way the American could disagree with that.

"Well what if that's what adults want you to believe?! Superheroes don't go around telling people they're superheroes stupid!" he exclaimed, defending his comic books desperately. There was no way superheroes aren't real. Feeling personally offended, he decided to take things one little bit further. "What would you know anyway? You're not even American! This is America! You shouldn't even be here you stupid-head! Go home!"

He didn't intend to hurt the boy but things were getting a little more heated now and he wanted him to feel just as offended as he was when he made fun of his comic books and had the audacity to say superheroes didn't exist. It was just a harmless argument right? So long as nobody else intervened it'd be fine in the end and all over a stupid book that got all of his attention. Alfred supposed that maybe he couldn't be friends with everybody but he was more than persistent to make him his friend now they had argued.

"I-" Arthur paused. Even though the prospect of superheroes being real was obviously stupid. (The blond was silly for thinking such things were real, the only stories that were real where things like Sherlock Holmes, he had to be real with all of the books that had been written about him. Not that Arthur had read them personally, the big words inside of the heavy books that lined his mothers shelves and other rooms inside of their house confused Arthur to no end.) But... it did almost make sense and he almost found himself believing what the American was saying until he shot out another few comments at Arthur that were seemingly unnecessary not to mention extremely rude!

"It... It doesn't matter if I'm not American! Americans are stupid anyway... and If I could go home I would! I don't even want to talk about comic books with you!" He frowned and looked towards the floor glancing across his and the other shoes, he hadn't wanted to come to America with his parents but there had been little choice in the matter. Arthur had desperately begged his Father to allow him to stay with his Grandma in England, but the same answer had constantly been thrown back at him, never changing in the sightless and being a constant disappointment. "Your home is where your family is Arthur, we're your family and you are coming with us. You, your brothers and your mother. No questions asked" his father was a strict man of which Arthur knew not to question once he had made a clear point but it didn't seem fair.

"Yeah! Well!" Alfred was now beginning to stutter. He was beginning to lose everything he built up to say and argue. His hands curled into fists and his stubby nails cut into his palms. If he wanted to go home so badly why didn't he? He didn't even like America and nobody who disliked the States should be allowed in them in his book. His mother had always said that or something like that. She was a strong patriot and the bravest woman in his book. Alfred didn't see why she couldn't be a superhero (in fact, maybe she was?) "America is the best country so suck it!"

He becoming more and more aware of how immature he was being but it was completely necessary. Had he not said anything about his comic books being stupid they would have never got into this mess. He wondered if he hated him. Hate was a pretty strong word. Bravely, he spoke up again. "What's your name anyway? Else I'm gonna have to keep calling you stupid-head,"

Deciding to ignore his comment on how America was the best country when it obviously wasn't Arthur just sighed, There just seems to be no reasoning him! He would have to try and convince the blonde otherwise that infact there were better countries than America. England being one of them, perhaps the only one. That is, if the two ever spoke again... Not that he wanted to, the American was just ignorant and plain annoying! But Arthur knew his thoughts were a little bit foolish. Honestly it was both of their faults that they had gotten into this argument but he wasn't going to admit that anytime soon. Slightly apprehensive about answering his question for a reason Arthur was unsure of, he decided to just tell the boy his name.

"It's Arthur.. But I'm only telling you so you'll tell me your name! And I'm not a stupid-head.. Don't call me that, or i'll call your picture books silly again." He almost pouted and looked back up the other. Honestly being intrigued to what the boy was called, maybe something stupid like Rusty. Americans seemed to have funny names for each other. If he had a name like that Arthur doubted he would be able to hold back his laughter.

Ah, Arthur huh? At least they was in the same boat now with stupid old names. He almost didn't want to tell him his name in case he laughed at him but what was the chances when he had a stupid name himself? Art sounded like a weird nickname so he took it upon himself to find a better suitable nickname for him since Arthur was so boring.

"Okay Artie. My name is Alfred but you can call me Al," he told him, wiping away any remaining tears in his eyes and grinning. He managed to loosen his grip in his fist and put his hand out since that what his mother always told him was polite to do when you meet someone for the first time. Although, he guessed it wasn't very polite of him to steal his book without putting his hand out to shake first. "You're still a stupid-head but whatever,"

Alfred. It seemed to instantly remind him of a story his mother had once told him about "Alfred the Great" who was a great king of England a very long time ago, but Arthur didn't want the American to become even more egoist therefore deciding to withhold this information. Being compared to someone with "Great" in their title would definitely boast Alfred's ego and that was something Arthur would like to avoid at all costs. Although he was ever so slightly pleased to notice the blond had gotten over being upset so quickly, a little bit too quickly. But nethertheless...

"You'll call me Arthur" he reaffirmed, not liking the shortening of his name. It seemed improper.

"And I'll call you Alfred..." They didn't seem to be close enough to use nicknames yet, nicknames should only be for best friends and family. And the two of them were nowhere near that. Looking down at Alfred's hand he blinked in confusion for a second then noticed the boy expected him to shake his hand, awkwardly returning the gesture Arthur hesitantly grabbed Alfred's hand. Unsure of how to do it properly, nobody had told him how to shake hands before. He felt foolish for not knowing how to such a simple action.

He shook his hand vigorously. He wasn't sure if he was just warm but Arthur's hand seemed rather cold against his own. Cold hands, warm heart they say. Did that mean he had a cold heart if he had warm hands? He hoped it didn't work like that, he liked to think he was a nice person aside from the fact he pinched others books from people - that was completely acceptable in his eyes though. The other kids seemed to think he was great, the teachers not so much. He wasn't the smartest kid in his class but he didn't think he was stupid either; not like Arthur implied because he was simply American. Now they'd shook hands, he wondered if that patched up any hurt feelings. Somehow, he doubted it.

"Whatever you say Artie," he said carelessly, not caring much for using his full name. He would prefer it if he had shortened his name but there was no use arguing about it.

Arthur just furrowed his brows at Alfred's use of his shortened name, there didn't seem to be a way to convince him otherwise. Shaking his hand in return with an improved vigor - it was actually quite fun. And maybe getting a little bit carried away Arthur eventually let go of Alfred's hand, bringing it back up to his chest to clutch onto the book. It was surprising how warm Alfred's hand had been compared to his own, then again he had always had cold hands. Not that he knew why, after asking his mother that very question Arthur hadn't received much in reply. There was probably nothing to worry about and the thought was quickly out of his mind, marking it down as unimportant.

"It's Arthur.." He sighed but held little anger behind the statement, the entire mood seemed to have became more light hearted and any negatives feelings were currently left behind. For now at least. He had no doubt that the two of them would have their fights in the future..

"Artie," he responded with a little chime in his voice and using that same boyish charm. He resumed back to his grinning and was happy with the fact that the tension had settled down. No longer did he feel the need to cry; he hated that anyway. It was an awful feeling when you could feel the tears choking you in your throat. He hated that he cried over stupid things, Matt always said that if you cry too much then all of your tears will float away and you won't have any left for when you really need to cry. He never knew where his brother heard these things but it did seem scary after all. He didn't want to use up all his tears. Thinking about it sort of made him upset so he stopped and looked back at Arthur instead. Seeing those bushy eyebrows only made him want to giggle again.

All of the negativity seemed to have gone now. He thought that maybe they could be friends now their argument was over. Even if it was only a short one. Maybe Arthur felt the same way? Feeling it necessary, Alfred decided to apologise. That's what the adults would want. "Sorry about snatching your book," He choked out the most sincerity he could.

Arthur just groaned lightly in reluctance seeing as Alfred wasn't going to stop calling him by that ridiculous nickname, the only reason he didn't want to be called by such a name was because it sounded childish. And no matter how old he was, Arthur hated to be considered childish. He couldn't wait until he was older in a sense, then people would take him more seriously, mostly his brothers. They always seemed to pick on him and using the fact he was younger as an excuse! Which was completely unfair, it wasn't his fault he was younger... even though adults and older brothers were meant to be smart, they didn't act so intelligent sometimes. Arthur had once seen a tv show where two adults had accidently made a baby, he didn't understand how babies were made... but surely you can't make one by accident! Adults could be so silly.

Breaking out of his thought and noticing Alfred had apologised for his actions, he felt a small sense of embarrassment that he hadn't been the one to apologize first. That was definitely the adult thing to do, and he was meant to be the mature one! He was taller, therefore the most mature.

"I'm sorry I called your picture books stupid then.." He sighed and tried to put a sincere tone in his voice as well seeing as Alfred had done the same, but his just didn't sound as convincing as Alfred's. He wasn't sure why.

"They aren't silly," he mumbled but not loud enough for Arthur to hear him. He appreciated the apology so he figured that he must of appreciated his too. Burying his hands back in his pockets, he kept up his smile. Now he was left with nothing more to say. An awkward silence grew between them as the wind continued to breeze through their hair and howl through the gaps in the leaves of the trees. Suddenly, a familiar ringing broke the silence and blocked out the sound of the howling trees.

Saved by the bell was a saying that was fitting in this situation. Alfred looked up at Arthur as the noise filled the playground. With a cheeky grin he figured out just what to say; "See ya around Artie,"

Waving to Alfred half-heartedly as he started to walk off Arthur decided to send him a small smile in return before he left; unsure of how else to say goodbye and still feeling slightly confused by the events that had just occurred. There was no doubt he would end up seeing Alfred again, he had at least a couple of classes with the American, he was sure of it. Slowly walking across the playground and back to the main building whilst attempting to avoid the other hectic children who ran across the stretch of gravel, seemingly not caring if they walked into Arthur or not as several of them clipped his shoulder as they walked past; not even stopping to apologize or glance in his direction. He was left to deal with his own thoughts, the walk to his next class wasn't a long one yet it gave him enough time to think about what had just happened.

"See you around.." He muttered pulling down his sleeves to the bottom of his palms once again, walking through the cold playground and wondering if things would be any different from now on.

Alfred didn't stop coming to bother Arthur every break. Whilst they hit a rough start, he found himself coming more and more attached to the taller boy. His other friends didn't seem to like it much but he didn't seem to care. Progressively he grew a little more interested in the books he read and the things he liked to do at home although Arthur didn't grow any more fond of the "Artie" nickname he had been given. Their acquaintanceship progressed into friendship and somehow Alfred found himself spending breaktime sat on that bench beside him and sharing lunch with him.

Perhaps approaching him had been a good idea after all. Maybe they'd be friends for a month or two, maybe a year. Or perhaps they would be friends for a long time, who knew? The future had always been full of secrets.


	2. Blossoming Friendship

Arthur wasn't the kind of person to go to sleep over. Nor was he the kind of person to enjoy such a thing or look forwards to socialising with his...friend. So due to all of this, the buzzing of excitement in his stomach was a puzzling scenario for him, a couple of days ago Alfred F. Jones, an obnoxious American boy he had somehow befriended had brought up the idea of going to a sleep over. Honestly the blond seemed so excited about the idea that it was hard to turn him down, besides, it couldn't be that bad.

And that is how he found himself standing outside of the American's house, his rucksack in one hand and gripping onto a green sleeping bag with the other. His mother had personally requested that she pack his bags for Arthur despite the fact he was completely capable of doing it himself. After all, Arthur _was_ 6, a completely suitable age for one to pack their own bags.

She had muttered something about how mothers knew best as she neatly packed clothing and extra clothing into his small bag. Making sure not to forget anything, double checking it's contents before smiling brightly and passing it over to Arthur, ruffling his hair as she did so - his mother seemed to be more excited about the idea of her son going to a sleep over then he was himself. Shaking away any doubts, Arthur reached up grabbing onto the brass door handle that was proudly sitting on top of the large wooden door before starting to knock, waiting for a response until he heard frantic footsteps coming from inside the house, charging down the stairs and frantically throwing open the door with a crash.

"Artie!" came the cry of the young boy who had not so politely opened the door without even checking it was in fact his green-eyed friend. A grin covered his face from ear to ear; showing off those pearly-whites, to say he was beaming would be an understatement. He quickly let go of the door handle to wraps his arms excitedly around his friend and jump up and down a little. Some womanly shouting from the kitchen caught Alfred off guard - something about being quiet and careful. Alfred peered over his shoulder and let go of Arthur.

"Arthur and I are going upstairs mom!" he called back, smiling at him, he took hold of his hand before dragging him up the stairs. "Come on, to my room!"

Arthur yelped as his friend all but charged into him, making them almost stumble backwards and fall back onto the ground if he hadn't been able to stable himself. Rolling his eyes and laughing lightly at the blond's excitement, Arthur reluctantly let himself be dragged up the stairs leading up to Alfred's room - it wasn't the first time he had seen the American's house, but he was no way near familiarized with the house yet. Reaching the top of the stairs Arthur pulled his hand away from the others grip, readjusting his rucksack that had almost fallen off of his shoulder during the excitement.

"Don't pull me around like that!" He frowned but held no anger behind his sentence, more embarrassed by the fact he had been treated like a rag doll than anything else.

Alfred laughed and headed to his bedroom, opening the door and running in to flop on his bed once he got there. He took a moment to indulge himself in the soft material, he recently got a new bed since his old one was getting a bit weak due to the relentless bouncing he forced his twin brother Matthew to join in. Of course, this only caused him to be severely told off and got his video games taken off him for a week. Slowly, he sat up with dishevelled hair to look at Arthur.

"Sorry Artie, I was just excited," he told him between chuckles and pulling his feet towards him to sit cross-legged. "Make yourself at home dude!"

Walking inside after his friend, Arthur looked around the messy room almost grimacing at the state of it all. Candy wrappers, plates and everything else you could imagine belonged inside a rubbish bin seemed to be littered around Alfred's bedroom - although surprisingly enough his bed seemed to be perfectly clean. But restraining an unpleasant expression he decided to grin and bear it, not wanting to seem rude to the people who were going to allow him to sleep in their house for a night. Unsure of where to sit, Arthur continued to stand awkwardly in the doorway fidgeting slightly as he stood.

"Do you have a place I can put these...?" He eventually spoke out, gripping onto the bags in his hand, unsure of where to put them.

"Anywhere's fine really but next to the bed is cool," he chirped, holding his toes and rocking back and forth a little. He noticed that Arthur was a little awkward and fidgety but what was to be expected I mean it wasn't his house after all. Alfred had always adapted well to other peoples houses however but each to their own. Perhaps he should have cleaned up a bit before Arthur got here - he told his mom he would but he never did. He can always blame it on the events of the sleepover when she sees him the next day. Although it wouldn't be nice to put the blame on Arthur since in fact Arthur appeared to be a very neat boy (he wasn't sure how he could do it!) He tried to be neat but somehow it just kept slipping with his own carelessness. Looking up, he invited Arthur to sit next to him on the bed by patting next to him.

Walking out from the safety of the doorway, Arthur cautiously stepped across the room making sure not to step onto anything that looked like it might of been food at one point, he really didn't understand how someone could comfortably live in such a mess, and eventually making it to the other side he placed down his belongings and sat down onto the bed where Alfred had pointed. Arthur was surprised by the softness of the mattress and almost fell back into the covers as it sunk down under his weight, gripping onto the mattress to keep himself upright he couldn't help but laugh at the feeling of it all, never had Arthur sat on such a odd bed - or maybe it was because his own was quite hard, his parents said something about how it was good for your back (not that he understood how that could possibly work.)

Looking over to Alfred, Arthur pondered for a second wanting to say something to escape the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over them "What do you want to do...?" It seemed to a reasonable question, either way he was unsure of what to say. This had really been the first time Arthur had ever slept round a friends house like this. When he still lived in England, there had never been any friends or best friends Arthur was close enough with to do such a thing. Just, friends. Nothing special about it.

Running his fingers through his messy hair, he looked over as Arthur sat down next to him. Pondering quietly about the things they should do, he made a quick glance to look at the time. 6:30 PM (he learnt how to tell the time recently!) That was still plenty of time until curfew. Of course, Alfred had no intention of going to bed at curfew unless they did become too tired.

"Do you wanna watch a movie? I got snacks! What movies do you like Artie?" he bombarded Arthur will all these questions at once as he leaped up to walk over to the dark oak wood bookcase in the corner beside his TV. It was hardly acceptable to call a bookcase considering it was mostly filled with old-fashioned movies that Alfred enjoyed and comic books.

Thinking about what kind of movies he liked, Arthur was faced with the realization that he couldn't think of a single title of a movie he enjoyed, at least nothing that wouldn't seem to be horribly "lame" or make his new friend laugh at his his head at the question, Arthur leaned up to see just what Alfred was looking at, spotting a shelf full of movies and frowning once he didn't recognise a single title on the shelf. He had heard of a couple, but honestly had no idea what they were about and felt extremely out of place due to this. Maybe he should've done some research on movies before he came here, nobody had explained the rules of sleepovers to him before and this entire situation just seemed confusing.

"I don't really know what movies I like. You can pick one if you want," He offered, wondering what type of movies the American liked. Knowing him, it was probably something to do with those silly comic book heroes he was so fascinated with and judging from the many posters of super heroes on Alfred's walls, he wasn't too far from the truth.

He hadn't forgotten about the fact that Arthur wasn't as enthusiastic about superheroes and the whole scene. Being a good friend was all about caring for one another. He ran his finger along the titles of the movies on the bookshelf. What would Arthur like? He supposed something girly, he did like stuff like reading and such. Not that Alfred owned girly movies (of course all his movies were manly as hell) but there were a few that he thought maybe his friend would like. Disney had always been a guilty pleasure of his, a bit old-fashioned but they were the best.

Considering he had no intention of sticking some stupid princess movie on, he picked one of the more appropriate Disney movies. Turning around, he showed Arthur the cover and waited for a reaction with a smile on his face.

Looking up at the cover Alfred was showing him, Arthur was pleasantly surprised to notice a title he actually somewhat recognised. Disney movies weren't exactly his favourite, but having seen quite a few of them - mostly due to his mother, she seemed to watch the movies quite a lot and would often invite Arthur to sit with her whilst they were on, he suspected she put them on for the soul reason of getting Arthur to sit with her. Not that he minded, Arthur really did enjoy spending time with his Mother, not that he didn't love the rest of his family.

Looking up to Alfred he nodded and smiled briefly in conformation, he wasn't all that sure exactly what this movie was about, so was quite intrigued to see.

Glancing around the room as Alfred fiddled with the DVD player, Arthur took off his shoes and brought his feet up onto Alfred's bed. Seeing as the two were going to be sat here for a while, it couldn't hurt to get comfortable.

With a triumphant smirk, he finally got it working. Usually he had to get his mom to do it for him but there was no use calling on mommy now. He had to be a strong, brave man in front of Arthur - how embarrassing would it be if he couldn't even put a DVD in a DVD player? He fumbled with the remote and turned up the volume as the familiar introductory music began to play. He'd seen this movie plenty of times before but perhaps it'd be a newer experience for Arthur. Secretly, he knew he'd be tempted to sing along with some of the songs but keeping up this manly façade had been going well so far (and he was sure Arthur thought he was super cool and manly) so he had no intention of stopping.

"Do you like Disney movies?" he asked as he got back up from the floor to sit back beside Arthur on his bed. He noticed Arthur was beginning to get comfortable which was good, there was nothing quite as awful as being uncomfortable in a strange house. He grabbed one of the pillows from his bed and held it to his chest as he shuffled back to lean against a mirroring pillow to the TV.

"I suppose.. I haven't seen that many of them though" He wasn't sure if he wanted to admit to Alfred just how many Disney movies he had seen, either it being unintentional or not it just seemed odd for a boy to watch such a thing. Arthur's brothers always called them "girly movies" and the last he Arthur wanted to be called was _girly_. Girls always did things like going shopping and painting their nails, which honestly confused Arthur. Who would want to have painted nails? Although... If Alfred had one of the movies in his room, maybe he liked girly movies as well. Arthur hoped he did, then he wouldn't feel like the only boy in his class that liked such a thing.

Turning his attention back to the screen, Arthur rested his head on his knees as the movie started to play. Alfred's bed was surprisingly comfortable - at least compared to his own. And Arthur could find himself sinking into the thick covers and soft mattress quit easily if he wasn't too embarrassed to do so.

"I like Disney movies. No princess ones though, they're for girls - yuck!" he exclaimed, bringing his pillow tighter to his chest. He cringed at the thought of such girly movies. "Everyone knows girls have cooties anyway,"

Alfred didn't know where this whole cooties thing had begun but he definitely knew it was true. His mother didn't have cooties of course, that would be ridiculous. All the other girls in his class did though, they were always giggling and doing weird things like girls do. He didn't understand why boys like girls so much - he certainly didn't. Maybe it was an adult thing, did his mom have cooties when she was younger? Did she fight them off like some great warrior fighting evil and then marry his dad? He hoped if he ever met a girl when he was older that he wouldn't have to do that weird cooties exchange thing. It was so gross when they put their mouths together, it seemed pointless and dirty. He made a mental note to ask his mom about that later. For now, he kept his eyes on the television screen.

Arthur nodded. It was true that all girls had cooties and it made a great deal of sense to him. Girls only did weird things and always laughed at boys behind their backs. Maybe they were plotting something. It wouldn't surprise Arthur if they were, maybe that's what they kept in those big bags they often took to school. Either way he didn't and couldn't understand the fascination towards girls. All the older boys seemed to talk about girls all of the time as if they were the best thing, always saying rude words like _breasts_ then saying how great they were. Arthur doubted he would ever like girls, not with all of the cooties they had, god forbid he ever got cooties...whatever they were. Other children made it out to be a very bad thing, so it had to be avoided at all costs.

"Girls are weird.." He agreed, it was nice to see him and Alfred had the same opinion on something.

He quickly picked up on the fact that right now they had a good topic of conversation that they shared a mutual side on. This was a great discovery since all Alfred wanted to talk about was superheroes and comic whereas Arthur was much more enthusiastic about literature and stuff like that. Knowing this, he continued the conversation whilst paying a good amount of attention to the movie.

"Yeah they are. This one girl gave me a card on Val…" he paused and scowled as he attempted to stop muddling his words. "Val...en, Valentines day," he got there eventually. "I got _glitter_ all over my hands, I think her name was Michelle. I don't remember. Mom thought it was a cute but I didn't find it very cute. It was all pink and sparkly and girly. Not for me. She should have drawn Captain America on it instead,"

Arthur couldn't help but laugh lightly at the idea of a Valentines card with Captain America on it, the thought of it just sounded strange. But Alfred did have a point, nobody wanted to get cards with glitter inside of them, who wanted to be covered in glitter! The whole idea of Valentines day was odd, and never having personally received a Valentine himself, Arthur wasn't all that fond of it. His mum had given him a Valentines once, but that had caused his brothers to laugh at him.. Arthur decided he wanted to get a proper Valentines one day and one that wasn't from his parents.

"I don't know why girls like it so much.. Even my mum likes Valentines day, and then she gets all mad when my dad forgets to buy her something.. All girls are confusing." He muttered, thinking back to the many Valentine's days he could remember - in retrospect he could only remember 2 or 3, after all Arthur was only 6. However, the ones he could remember didn't seem to be all that interesting, overall it was a stupid holiday in his eyes and should be illegal. Then his mum wouldn't have anything to get angry over.

"Yeah…" he mumbled, agreeing with him and felt the conversation beginning to become loose so he drew more attention to what was going on during the movie. Alfred didn't see the big deal about Valentines Day either - it seemed like a pointless holiday. Mom said it was to express love and that's why dad showered her with flowers and stuff like that but surely Dad should show he loves her all the time not just on that day.

He didn't see the big deal about love either. Sure, love was a nice thing to receive from his parents, the care and trust within a family, but he didn't see why it was such a big thing in the media and popular fiction. Mom always cried when she walked two adults share the cooties exchange on television so surely it can't be a good thing.

Seeing as Alfred wasn't going to continue the conversation, Arthur turned back to the TV deciding to focus on what was happening in the movie. The silence seemed to continue on for the next 10 minutes, the only sounds coming from the television as the two boys seemed to be concentrating all their attention onto the television in front of them. The sun was gradually going down; making the room dimmer than before. The TV shone brightly in the darkness.

Arthur frowned. He really wasn't how he felt about this movie, the plot seemed to be dull and confusing and definitely was aimed at_ much_ younger children - He ignored the fact that chances were Arthur was the target audience for such a movie, but the way the characters spoke in such a childish manner just made him feel stupid. Glancing over to Alfred wondering if his friend had any issues with the movie, he was disappointed to see him smiling at the television - seemingly enjoying the show in front of him.

Alfred made sure they went through various movies. He gave in by the end and resorted to his superhero movies that he watched with enthusiasm and spared a glance at Arthur. By this time, he'd already ran to steal some of his twin brother Matthew's pillows so they could make a pillow fort on the floor which they sat comfortably. It was a little tight packed but cozy being surrounded by all the warmth and fluffy pillows. He had brought out the snacks which Arthur didn't seem to eat much of causing Alfred to pig out.

As the last movie came to a close and the credits started to play, the dirty-blonde haired boy reached for the remote through some crisp packets and switched off the television. He yawned loudly and looked towards his friend.

"Where are you sleeping?" he asked him. Looking back at the blond, Arthur couldn't help but yawn as well once he saw his friend do the same. It always confused him how yawns were so infectious!

"I brought a sleeping bag over so I don't mind sleeping on the floor..." He gestured to the sleeping bag in a bundle beside Alfred's bed as he spoke. The floor probably wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep but seeing as there didn't seem to be any other places for him to do so it would have to be suffice, it wasn't like Arthur was going to sleep in Alfred's bed after all.

"You can sleep in your bed and I'll sleep on the floor beside it, just don't step on me when you get out of your bed!" Arthur warned him, not liking the idea of his friend trampling him the following morning and he ended up wincing at the thought of it.

Letting his friend sleep on the floor? That didn't sound like a very heroic thing to do. He only had a single bed so there was no chance of him having enough room to top and tail. Alfred considered his options before finally coming to a conclusion. He climbed out of the pillow fort and took some of the pillows from the bottom and put them on the floor beside his bed. He did not spare Arthur a look back as he started to pull his duvet off his bed and with the pillows.

"Then we sleep on the floor together!" he announced with a grin as he neatened out the mess of things on the floor beside his bed. "It'll be fun!"

"You really don't have to..." He sighed, seeing no point in continuing his sentence as the American had already thrown most of the pillows and blankets from his bed onto the floor below. Grabbing the pillow next to him, Arthur climbed off of the bed and sat down beside his friend. He was actually quite glad he wouldn't have to sleep on the ground by himself but the idea of making Alfred sleep down here just because of him seemed wrong either way, not that Arthur was going to stop him from here out.

"If you're going to sleep down here at least make a proper bed!" He tried to sound angry but couldn't seem to say the sentence without smiling lightly, although Arthur was still unhappy with the state of the pillows and blankets placed all over the ground with seemingly no pattern at all. Bending down to clear it up, Arthur started to arrange the pillows once again until it somewhat resembled a misshapen bed. "There!" He grinned.

He laughed cheerily as he watched his friend arrange the bedding he had set down into a more suitable state to sleep in before rubbing his eyes tiredly. He was sort of glad Arthur was neat like that. Whilst he can't relate to his own messiness - he could clean up after him which would save him a tiresome job and no ranting from his mother.

"Gonna put my pjs on 'kay!" he announced, reaching over for a drawer and taking out the clothing he was talking about. Alfred wasn't modest at all; perhaps too young to be. He demonstrated this clearly as he made sure the door was shut properly and taking off his shirt without a fuss. As he tossed it aside and began to put on a baggy shirt with a batman symbol on it, he wondered if Arthur was going to follow suit.

Arthur turned away quickly as soon as Alfred started to take off his shirt revealing his slightly pudgy belly, the boy didn't seem to have any sense of decency! He hoped Alfred didn't expect him to get dressed in front of him like this, Arthur had never been comfortable getting dressed with other boys even in school when his class would get changed for Gym, it just seemed embarrassing..

"Alfred! Don't just take your clothes off while I'm in here!" He complained, not yet having turned back to face the American in fear of his friend taking off even more of his clothing. Spotting his bag close to where he was sitting, Arthur quickly grabbed it and took out his pyjamas from the rucksack before returning it to its place. "Is there anywhere I can get changed...?" Arthur eventually turned around, happy to see that Alfred at least had some clothes on.

Arthur seemed flustered about him removing his clothing which he found strange. They had to get changed in front of each other all the time in gym. Why was this any different? They were both boys after all it's not like they had anything different right? He'd have to find out that theory for certain sooner or later so he made a mental note to ask when perhaps Arthur was a bit more comfortable around him. He snapped out of his thoughts to answer Arthur's question and he moved his chubby fingers to unbutton his jeans.

"The bathroom I guess? I don't see the big deal, we're both boys right?" he said his thoughts aloud, ignoring his previous statement about undressing.

"Right.." He didn't exactly feel comfortable getting changed in the same room as Alfred, but.. The way his friend seemed reluctant to let him get changed in the bathroom just made him feel out of place, and maybe if he got used to getting dressed with other people Arthur would get over this "fear" he had of it. Reluctantly undoing the buttons of his shirt, Arthur quickly slipped it over his head before reaching down and grabbing his other shirt from the floor, slipping it over his head and hastily doing the buttons back up with shaky hands. Frowning when he did the buttons up incorrectly forcing him to undo it once again and repeat the process.

Hearing Alfred pull up his trousers, Arthur quickly did the same; stripped off his trousers before hastily stepping into his other ones feeling somewhat proud of himself once he was fully dressed. Even if it was silly to be worried about such a thing, he couldn't help it! If Arthur had gotten a choice, he wouldn't of chosen to fret over such things at all - being confident (well, oblivious) to such matters like Alfred seemed much more favourable.

In the end, he was glad that Arthur didn't leave and stayed with him. He was happy now to be in the comfort of his PJs which were much more comfortable to sit around in than jeans digging into his waist. His mom insisted the jeans were too small for his waistline (and it might have been obvious from the light red welts they left behind in his skin) but Alfred protested otherwise since they fit him in the leg. He looked up at Arthur as he finished dressing and gave him a toothy grin.

"Do you wanna brush your teeth with me? Usually I'd skip but mom always nags at me if I don't do it twice a day so.." he began, tapping his finger on his leg and hoping he wasn't putting his friend on the spot too much. "Unless you don't wanna, which is cool too,"

At his friends words Arthur realised that he had completely forgotten about the fact he would have to brush his teeth before going to bed, so he nodded and bent down to fish his toothbrush, toothpaste and a small glass jar filled with coloured little pills from his rucksack before standing back up and walking up to Alfred.

His mother had told him it was very, very important that he took his medicine before he went to bed and after he woke up in the morning and especially not to forget! (Just as always) But there hadn't been a day when Arthur had forgotten to take those colourful little tablets, so he didn't understand why his mother was so worried he would forget.

"Um.. I don't know where your bathroom is so i'll just follow you there" he spoke, fiddling his toothbrush in his hands slightly. Now that he thought about it, out of the 4 times he had been to Alfred's house Arthur had no idea where the bathroom actually was. It seemed odd to him that he hadn't ever needed to use that room in Alfred's house, but he was was slightly intrigued to see what it looked like. Just out of curiosity.

"Alright," he agreed, making eye-contact with the little bottle of pills he noticed in Arthur's hands. He'd never seen them before, was it candy? It certainly looked edible (maybe even chewy on the inside) and pretty-coloured. Was he going to have a quick scoff of sweets before he brushed his teeth? How sneaky. He hoped he'd share. Quickly, he turned and lead the way to his bathroom across the hallway. Opening the door, he revealed the inside, a sink facing opposite the door and a large mirror with a wooden frame hung above it. He made his way across the tiled floor, his bare feet tapping on it as he moved to pull a long almost stool-like looking thing that had room for no more than 2 small people. He reached for his toothpaste and toothbrush and hopped up on the stool; waiting for Arthur to follow. This way, he could at least see his face in the mirror as he brushed his teeth to make sure he didn't miss any spots.

Following Alfred into the bathroom Arthur was surprised to see it was quite a bit smaller than he had expected, at least compared to the rest of Alfred's house (Which happened to have fairly large rooms, but then again most American houses seemed to be bigger than English houses) So placing the glass jar on the counter placed in front of the mirror, Arthur unscrewed the lid before taking out two of the pills and quickly popping them into his mouth, swallowing them just as he normally did before screwing back on the lid. After taking the pills for so long Arthur had found it didn't really faze him if he swallowed them without water or not.

"Aren't you going to brush your teeth?.." Arthur spoke out noticing that his friend seemed more interested in what he himself was doing rather than brushing his teeth, maybe he shouldn't of taken his medicine in front of Alfred if he was going to look at him so strangely because of it.

"That's candy right? Can I have some?" Alfred questioned, blue eyes fixated on the container of pretty coloured pills. He grinned slyly as he looked up at Arthur. "C'mon please, I won't tell,"

Who knew Arthur would bring candy to the sleepover? He should have said something sooner - they looked yummy. How selfish of him to keep them to himself and not share with him. They were friends after all and that was what friends did; share. Even if Alfred wasn't much of a "sharing is caring" person, he did like to preach it which was rather hypocritical of him but all he had been thinking about was himself. He wasn't super nice to other kids like Matthew was. Matthew was nice to everybody except him. He liked to call him a crybaby and laugh at him when he cried which wasn't nice at all. Mom never caught him either, she never believed Alfred since he had always been the trouble-maker of the twins. It wasn't fair. Alfred put down his toothbrush so he could extend his hand in front of Arthur hoping he'd give him some of the delicious looking sweets in the container.

Arthur blinked in confusion when his friend extended his hand in expectation, did his pills really look like sweets to Alfred? He guessed that the colourful appearance of them could be misleading if you didn't know what they actually were.

"Oh no Alfred these aren't sweets, they're...Uh..." He paused trying to think of the name before picking up the jar and squinting at the tiny writing on it's label, the long confusing word printed on the jar didn't seem to make any sense to Arthur and he doubted he could pronounce it.

"They're these...pills, my mum says I have to take, I can't share them with you!" Arthur honestly wished that he could share his colourful looking pills with Alfred, he didn't want his new friend to think that Arthur was selfish in any way - selfish people were the worst - but if they were sweets then he would have most definitely given Alfred some, but Arthur was under strict instructions that these pretty little things where just for him and nobody else! That was a rule he wouldn't go against.

"Oh. Pills?" he responded, tilting his head and moving his hand back down to his side. He thought about this for a moment before realising what this meant. His mom had taken similar looking things when she came down with a fever last year. Did this mean Arthur wasn't very well? Suddenly, he became worried about his friend. "Are you okay Artie?! You'll get better soon right?!"

He exclaimed this then grabbed hold of Arthur's shoulders tightly and furrowed his eyebrows. He hoped Arthur wasn't very sick - he didn't look like it. Sure, his skin was a little more pale than his but he thought maybe he was a bit tan. It certainly made his freckles stand out. He was also thinner than Alfred but he supposed that he just ate more than him. He had never thought about the fact Arthur might not be very well but he'd always been this way so surely it wasn't that? Alfred didn't know what to think so he anticipated his friend's reply in hopes he was going to be better soon.

Arthur almost yelped as soon as Alfred grabbed him and the worried look on his friends face would've made him laugh if it wasn't for the fact he seemed to be completely serious.

"Alfred! I'm not sick, I just have to take these little pill things every day, I'm not going to die or anything! My mum takes them as well and she's not sick at all," Arthur shook his head and smiled slightly at Alfred's funny expression, there was no way he was sick. Being sick meant you had a runny nose and had to use tissues all day, at least that's what he thought being sick was. When Arthur's brother was sick last month he used up all of the tissues in their house! And Arthur definitely didn't feel sick at the moment, even if he wasn't exactly sure why he had to take those pills, he knew they were definitely important.

Alfred let out a sigh of relief. He was glad that his friend wasn't ill. That would involve him taking care of him and that was tiring. He didn't like taking care of Matthew when he was ill because it meant doing all his chores and bringing food to him like a slave. His mom insisted it was for the greater good but he wasn't convinced. He saw that evil glint in his twin's eyes when mom told him off for not wanting to baby his brother. He sure was smug about it and nobody ever believed him when he mentioned it. Not that he didn't care about Arthur and he was sure Arthur wouldn't look so smug about Alfred taking care about him - he was just lazy.

"Good! Don't die on me you're my _bestest_ friend!" he announced as he picked up his toothbrush and finally applied toothpaste followed by turning on the tap to let the water flow. He hadn't heard much of children dying since that was an old people thing anyway.

Arthur just nodded while smiling at his friends words before picking up his own toothbrush, squeezing on a small amount of pink coloured toothpaste, and starting to brush his own teeth making sure not to miss any places when did so - It was very important to have clean teeth! His parents always made sure he had brushed his teeth before bed and now that they weren't here to check up on him Arthur was sure he'd do a good job without their supervision.

After he had finished brushing his teeth and Alfred appeared to have done as well, he followed the blond back into his room watching as Alfred fussed with the mess of pillows he was going to be sleeping on then taking out his own large sleeping bag and laying it down next to Alfred's poor excuse for a bed. It seemed odd to sleep on the other side of the room from his friend, so they could just sleep next to each other.

"Are you sure that's not uncomfortable sleeping on the floor with me, you could just sleep on your bed..." He furrowed his brows, feeling slightly guilty for making his friend sleep on on the floor - in his own home! However nevertheless Arthur couldn't deny the fact he was happy that his new friend would do such a thing for him.

"I'm sure!" he replied as he fidgeted around in the covers of his make-shift bed and slowly got comfy. He grinned at Arthur as they both found themselves snuggled up in the comfort of their sleeping material facing one another. Alfred let out another yawn. They should sleep soon but Alfred wasn't quite ready.

The two boys spent the next hour telling stories and discovering more about one another. Although, Alfred's stories did seem rather unlikely and fairytale like. Only they were much too gruesome to be a fairytale. Things about zombies and monsters, he was only going to keep himself awake and give himself decided to stop while he was ahead for his own benefit. Time sure did fly by quickly when you was having fun.

Eventually, they called it a night and managed to fall asleep shortly after one another once they had turned the lights out and said their goodnights.


	3. White Christmas

Throughout his lifetime, there hadn't been a single Christmas season that Arthur could remember where he hadn't heard the phrase 'white Christmas' being uttered at least once. Everyone seemed to strive for this oh-so-perfect Christmas where the ground would be covered in a crisp sheet of freshly fallen snow and carollers would merrily knock on other neighbours doors, singing those awfully overused songs that we all know off by heart - even if we don't want to.

However, in his eyes the reality of this season was far from how movies and books depicted it, never had he woken up early on a Christmas morning to see sheets of snow outside his window, in fact he doubted that carollers were even a thing that existed outside of fiction as personally, Arthur had never seen a single one ever in his lifetime. So when the young boy woke up to the cold air on the 23rd of December, needless to say he would more than shocked to see the snow piling outside of his bedroom window (he was even a little bit excited.)

So after quickly doing his morning routine, he threw on a thick jumper,coat, pair of gloves, mittens, a wooly hat and everything else you could imagine someone would wear in cold conditions such as these. Finally stepping outside of his house, somewhat ignoring the frantic cries from his mother to_ "be careful and don't stay outside too long!"_ the blond had slowly walked into the crisp snow, staring inquisitively at the odd feeling of it crunching underneath his thick wellington boots - it was almost reaching his ankles! Such deep snow was a completely new experience to Arthur and ever so fascinating, one couldn't stop themselves from being interested in such a new feeling as this.

"Hey!" a voice called out, drawing Arthur quickly out of his thoughts with a snap of his boots against the ground as he looked up hastily matching a face to the words that had just been spoken.

Never mind, it was just Alfred.

The boy seemed to have some sort of contraption that Arthur recognised as a sled trailing behind him on a rope that was practically torn from use. With all of his thick winter clothing and flushed cheeks from the cold, Arthur assumed he must of walked the distance from his house to Arthur's.

"Uh...hello, what are you doing here?" Arthur replied, walking up to the American through the thick snow somewhat struggling due to it's depths.

"Hi Artie!" he exclaimed loudly, a grin from ear to ear. As he stopped moving once he approached Arthur, he felt himself sink into the snow. It was way past his ankles now and he had no idea how he was going to get back out. He shook the thought from his head and glanced behind him at the sled before looking back at his friend. "I'm here to see you of course! Mattie didn't wanna come out today he's got a cold which sucks because Christmas is soon so I thought maybe you and me should go sledding! I've had this thing since I was little!" To put emphasis on his words he tugged the rope so the sled came a bit further forward. "There's a really big hill at the top of that park down the street and it's super super fun, whatcha say?"

His blue eyes lit up brightly at the thought of going sledding with his new friend. Although he couldn't quite remember a time when he had walked out of it without a few bruises, he never stopped doing it every year he could remember there was snow. He wondered if Arthur had ever been sledding down a hill in the snow. It had always been a tradition of his and Matthew's so it was something that just came naturally. Last year, Alfred fell and rolled down the hill. He and Matthew laughed so hard they cried.  
Though, he was sure there'd be no big injuries this year. He was much more mature now. A whole big _seven_ years old.

Arthur couldn't help but furrow his brows at the idea of sledding down such a large hill (he had seen that very hill only once, but it was definitely bigger and taller than his house!) Glancing down at the contraption that Alfred had behind him, Arthur certainly didn't think that it could be safe to do such a thing - what if one of them fell off?! You could break one of your legs or arms then be forced to wear one of those big uncomfortable casts for weeks and weeks on end like some kind of Egyptian mummy...except worse!

"I don't know...isn't that dangerous? What if you fell off and hurt yourself, there's no way I would be able to carry you back here!" He exclaimed, trying to move forwards to prove his point but finding it increasingly difficult to move in the ever rising snow in front of him. Kicking away the annoying snow, Arthur managed to lumber across it's depths until he was in front of Alfred directly, feeling himself sink into the snow once more in a similar manner to which his friend had done a few moments ago.

"A couple bruises won't hurt you Artie!" he exclaimed, waving one arm in the air enthusiastically. There was nothing wrong with playing rough in Alfred's eyes. It was just the way he was brought up and raised after all so of course it didn't seem like a big deal. Growing up with a twin brother meant nothing but play fighting and pushing each other off swings. Arthur was taller than him so he figured it was okay to play rough with him too.

"Come on, just once and if you don't like it we'll stop okay?" He was sure Arthur would enjoy himself once he got over any initial fear he had of falling. As long as he held onto him he'd be fine anyway!

"Fine...just once and we've got to be careful!" Arthur warned, still feeling apprehensive about the whole idea of it all, if he or Alfred where to hurt themselves even a little bit he doubted that his parents would allow him to be friends with the American anymore. That would mean he wouldn't have anyone to sit with at lunch and Arthur wasn't sure if he wanted to go back to that again.

Pulling his scarf higher up to shield his face from the cold, Arthur remembered he should probably tell his mother that he was going to go with Alfred. It definitely wasn't a good idea to leave without asking her first.

"Just wait here a second!" Arthur turned his back to Alfred before quickly pushing his way through the snow, almost falling over once he reached the steps at his porch but managing to steady himself. Once he was indoors, he brushed some of the snow from his hair before walking through the house only to find his mother in their small living room. Arthur rushed up to her, smiling politely as to try and convince her to let him go out with his friend.

"Mum?" He waited for her to look up before continuing to speak. "Alfred wanted to take his sled down the road, and he wanted me to go with him is that okay? I swear I'll be careful! And I won't run in front of any cars or get into any weird looking vans," he grinned, remembering all of the things that his mother had told him about odd strangers with white vans - they were to be avoided at all costs.

"Alfred?" She paused for a second as if she was trying to remember Arthur's friend. "Is he that boy you hang around with at school?" she asked, putting down the book that had been in her hands previously before glancing outside of the window in their living room, seemingly to see if it really was Alfred waiting outside their house.

Arthur just nodded. "Well...as long as you're careful - and don't, overexert yourself, " she smiled kindly before brushing some of the snow from Arthur's coat and ruffling his hair.  
Arthur grinned before quickly hugging his mother and ushering out a few _"Thank you"_s and running back through the house and out of the door, shivering slightly at the cold weather compared to the warmth of his house. Once again pushing his way through the thick snow, Arthur managed to reach Alfred after the difficult trek through his front garden.

"She said we could go as long as we're careful," he smiled, feeling less nervous about the whole ideal now he had his mother's permission.

Alfred nodded quickly. With a gloved hand he grabbed Arthur's and began to pull him along towards the direction of the large hill at the top of the park. He wasn't sure if he would be able to make it up there with such thick snow this year but he and Matthew always seemed to find a way so he assumed it would all go smoothly. He slowed down as he got closer; recalling briefly that Arthur didn't like being pulled around. He nudged his friend softly as the hill was presented before them. Snow covered the entire hill from top to bottom despite it's vast height.

"Come on, let's go to the top!" he yelled as he started trudging his way up the large hill in his thick winter boots. Trailing his sled behind him (leaving an elaborate pattern in the snow) he almost slipped a couple times in his path. He looked over his shoulder at Arthur to see how he was dealing managing to get up.

Arthur couldn't help but trail behind Alfred as he _oh-so-enthusiastically_ dragged him up the snowy hill, the boys energy seemed to be endless as he was completely unphased by the feet of not only walking up such a steep hill but walking through the thick snow as well. Arthur couldn't say he was faring as well as his friend, walking this far in the snow was honestly wearing him out faster than usual - but then again, he wasn't the same as Alfred and already knew he would tire before the American did.

Seeing as Alfred had glanced back at him, he sent a reassuring smile to urge him to keep going; not wanting to seem weird or out of place. Most people would be able to make it up this hill in one piece so Arthur was determined to do the same.

Somewhat collapsing onto the ground once they reached the top of the hill, Arthur smiled happily glancing around the view from the top of such a height. He could just make out his house from here (maybe Alfred's as well if he looked close enough) and with the small trees dotted around the bottom of the slope, it certainly looked impressive enough to the Briton that he felt no regrets for following Alfred up here.

Regaining his strength, Arthur limbered back up, dusting the snow from his knees before looking over to Alfred as he was unsure of what they were going to do next. "Are we both going to go down the hill? Or just one of us?" he asked, if only one of them was going down he hoped it would be Alfred. The idea of being the first one to go down the slope sounded like an awfully intimidating challenge to him (one that he didn't - and wasn't - planning to take.)

"There's enough room for two. So we could go down together if you want. If you wanna go down in turns that's cool too! Just make sure you hold on," Alfred remarked. He gave Arthur the benefit of the doubt and assumed that he had never been sledding down a hill. After all, someone who had surely wouldn't be so hesitant about injuries or not know how this whole sledding thing works. "Matt and I find it's flattest down over here,"

Alfred gestured to the other side of the hill with his head and walked over hoping for his friend to follow. There wasn't as many trees on this side and less things to crash into if perhaps things were to get a bit wild. The snow wasn't as bumpy and it seemed like it was going to be smooth sailing down this way.

"I'll go down with you If that's okay..." Arthur replied, following the American over to the part of the hill where the two would be sledding down. Looking over the edge of the hill, the thought that he and Alfred would be going over it in a view moments just made his stomach churn with what he assumed was dread but also excitement for some strange reason. The ground was flatter on this end for sure although there were still some bumps and lumps sticking out all too prominently for Arthur's worries to be completely gone.

Glancing over to the sled Arthur was unsure if his friend expected him to get on, it made a lot more sense for Alfred to be at front so he would be the one to "steer" the sled (he was also heavier than Arthur, he was sure of that.)

So turning towards Alfred, he waited for the other boy to climb onto the small _deathtrap_ that they would both be sitting on top of. A thought occurred to him that it would be somewhat awkward with the two of them squeezed into such a tight space, but then again it wasn't if they were doing anything more than sledding. He would just have to get over it.

The American was first to jump onto the wooden sled. He budged up to the front to make sure there was enough room for the two of them before pushing some of his hair out of his face. He pat the back of the sled behind him to motion as to where Arthur could sit with him.

"Hold on to the sides or me, it's up to you!" he told him. He figured it would be dangerous either way. Alfred gripped onto the sides of his sled tightly and kept a firm grip on it as to make sure that he was the one in charge over the contraption. Despite this, he didn't show any fear of falling or injury even if it was a possibility. He had done it too many times without serious injury to be worrying about things like that. If anything, he was more worried about damaging his sled than himself or his friend.

Somewhat nervously clambering onto the back of the sled, Arthur considered whether to hold onto the wood or Alfred himself for a few moments before choosing to wrap his hands around his friends waist seeing as he would be able to hold on much tighter this way, although it was quite difficult due to the boys and his own thick winter coat. Arthur's hands kept slipping off of the almost silky fabric, so he chose to link his fingers together in front of the blond's stomach instead. This way he could hold onto Alfred without the fear of falling off.

Glancing over Alfred's shoulder, Arthur couldn't help but feel the apprehension start to build up in his stomach again. A soft uncomfortable buzzing that was now present in his tummy was less than welcome. It was the same feeling that Arthur got every time he went to the doctors or even sometimes the hospital, two places that he frequently seemed to visit whether it was for him or his mother. Those big corridors with scary men in large white coats always seemed to spook him, even if it seemed like an irrational fear.

"Okay, I'm ready...you can go whenever you want" he tried to force the aphersion out of his voice, not wanting to sound scared. Alfred didn't seem to be nervous about what they were about to do at all! If he knew how fearful Arthur really was of doing this then there was a large chance that Alfred might make fun of him for being such a 'scaredy cat' or any other horrible nicknames that the other children at school often liked to use towards people that were scared easily.

"Ready, steady? Go!" It was more of a statement than a question. It felt strange when Arthur's arms wrapped around him. Matthew usually held onto the sides these days, he supposed he did hold onto him a couple times, he did especially when they first started sledding so he guessed he couldn't feel it any differently when it came to Arthur. Although, Matthew was his brother and that kind of close bond came naturally. It was different with Arthur no matter how good of friends they had become over the months. Maybe they just needed more time.

Alfred pushed off the sled down the hill with his foot. Cold wind tussled their hair as they made their way shooting downwards. He held on tightly and moved the sled away from any oncoming lumps and bumps but that didn't stop them from going over some of them. The little obstacles made them jump a little and Alfred laughed. He wanted to look over his shoulder to see how Arthur was doing but he thought he better not and keep his eyes on the hill to avoid any accidents.

Arthur couldn't help but instantly squeeze his eyes shut as the sled began to race down the slope at such an alarming speed getting faster and faster as they progressed downwards, he could feel the wind rushing past the two of them as Alfred attempted to pilot through the occasion lumps and obstacles of the hill but seemingly not managing to get past all of them as the sled would occasionally jolt and buck every time it hit a small mound of snow that was higher than the rest, sending them upwards into the air only fractionally before hitting the cold snow once again with a small thud.

Eventually opening his eyes as they whizzed down the hill Arthur couldn't help but almost grin at the sights that were rushing past his eyes ever so quickly. Even if it was a little bit scary (but not way near as scary as he had expected it to be), the way that the snow and those big pine trees rushed past them on their descent was completely fascinating! Along with the rush of excitement he could feel in his belly, it was understandable why Alfred enjoyed doing this so much.

Eventually, the sled slowed down and hit a rough stop causing them both to jerk forward a little. Alfred took this time to glance at Arthur behind him and grinned back at him. Noticing that Arthur was grinning made him feel a little better. It showed that obviously he had enjoyed the trip down. Which also meant that he'd be willing to go down again. They was lucky to have not had any accidents this time but he supposed that it came with time and doing stupid things like putting your arms in the air whilst you were going down.

"Wanna go again?" he asked eagerly, waiting for Arthur to let go of him before he got up.

Arthur nodded, letting go of Alfred's waist before stepping back and brushing the snow from his coat. Now he felt a lot less anxious of sledding down that large hill, it definitely made this a lot more exciting so he was glad that he had decided to follow his friend out here. Waiting for Alfred to stand up, he turned around to look back up the slope only to be surprised at just how far down they had come in such a small amount of time - he thought it had to be at least a mile, or more! Although he wasn't exactly sure how much a mile really was. Though, Arthur did know it was quite a big distance for sure and the hill was certainly very big.

"Do you want me to pull the sled up this time?" Arthur offered, it seemed unfair that Alfred would have to pull the sled up that hill two times in a row, despite it was his idea to do this in the first place.

"Yeah okay," he agreed to letting Arthur pull the sled this time. He seemed much more fair than his brother. He hopped off the sled and turned on the heels of his boots to face him head on. Matthew would never offer to pull the sled up the hill, he'd make Alfred do it all the time. Usually, Alfred would protest and tackle his twin to the ground, they play fought often but somehow he never seemed to get to him when it came to sledding because his brother was good at climbing snowy hills. Which in turn, meant he was half-way back up there before Alfred could say "It's your turn".

He hoped now he had made this decision, Arthur knew he was going to be pulling that sled up the hill many snow days to come. The American was going to take full advantage of his offer and that was final. He crouched down to pick up the rope to the sled and handed it to Arthur before trudging back up the snowy hill on the left of the intricate pattern made by the trip down in the sled.

Taking the rope from Alfred's hands he started to follow the boy up the hill. It was much easier to drag the sled over the snow they had already flattened so he chose to stick to the same path they had chosen on their first journey up the slope. Finding it to get increasingly difficult to drag the sled up the hill whilst trying to maintain balance on the slippery snow Arthur turned around choosing to hold onto the rope with both of his hands before jogging up the slope to meet up with Alfred - who had gotten quite a fair bit ahead of him whilst Arthur trailed behind.

"Slow down a little bit!" Arthur called out to to his friend, stumbling across the bumpy snow before eventually catching up to him. Even after walking up this hill once already the American seemed to have an endless supply of energy - needless to say Arthur was a bit jealous that his friend never seemed to tire easily, unlike himself who often found he ran out of breath quite quickly.

Alfred laughed as he approached the top of the hill as he saw Arthur slowly gain on him. Of course the best option as his friend caught up with him, was to increase speed so he could reach the hill before him even if he had an unfair advantage in not having a sled trailing behind him. Just as he was about to declare an unplanned victory of reaching the top first, he lost his footing on a rather large mound of snow he hadn't seen due to seeing where Arthur was at.

His bright blue eyes widened and his laughter came to a halt as he began to fall backwards, the wind not having enough strength to hold his small body upright. The snow was not as soft on his back as one might think, he hit the snowy ground roughly before his body did a flip on itself. So began the endless cycle of rolls that soon followed the first flip, Alfred's body did not have enough time to curl up or stop. He thought himself lucky to avoid any dangerous or potentially fatal objects during his fall.

As he reached the bottom of the hill, his body was motionless for a couple moments that must have seemed like forever. Slowly, he lifted his head from the deep snow and erupted in laughter. His arm reached up into the air to give Arthur a thumbs-up so he knew he was okay.

Running to catch up with Alfred, Arthur was just about to yell at the boy for running away from him before the other lost his footing and seemingly shoot right past his eyes, across the snow and down to the bottom of the hill in what felt like only a few seconds. He couldn't help but feel slightly panicked for his friends safety as he all but disappeared into the thick snow at the bottom of the hill and didn't reappear immediately. Turning around in the snow Arthur attempted to run down the hill but immediately lost his balance as he did so, resulting in him tumbling over and onto his behind with a yelp.

Glancing up to the mounds of snow where Alfred had fallen into Arthur felt a surge of relief wash over him as Alfred seemed to suddenly burst out from underneath it's depths throwing his arm in the air to signal he was okay. Hurriedly sliding down the hill with the sled trailing behind him Arthur eventually managed to get to the bottom of the slope without any injuries (apart from a now thoroughly soaked coat from the wet ground.) Stumbling through the snow once again and up to where Alfred was, he kneeled down in the snow next to him - surprised to see the boy was in a fit of laughter but it still didn't ease his worries.

"Are you okay?! You didn't hit your head did you?" He panicked, thinking that if Alfred had hit his head, it would explain why he was laughing so uncontrollably right now.

"I'm fine don't worry!" he told him as he managed to sit upright in the snow. Now all his clothing was substantially dampened; he noted. It was a predicament he didn't quite expect to occur so soon in their fun. Alfred wanted to check his body for nasty bruises or red marks but considering most of his body was covered up with thick winter clothing, now was not the time nor place he could do so. It would be anomalistic if he did not acquire any marks of his fall that his mother would probably find and question. Although, he knew it would just be another representation of the trouble he causes.

Alfred didn't see Arthur slide down the hill but seeing as his friend was now resting at the bottom of the hill, he assumed that he was unharmed. He showed more concern for him rather than himself anyway. Despite everything including the fall, he was still surprisingly ebullient and eager to get back to sledding. Right now, all he felt was cupidity to get back up that hill. He stumbled quickly to his feet.

"Catch me if you can!" he called as he started racing back up.

Arthur quickly got back up to his feet as Alfred sprung up from where he was sitting and started running back up towards the hill with a much renewed vigor, seemingly not affected by the tumble he had just taken.  
Grabbing the rope once again Arthur began to chase after his friend still unable to catch up with his pace no matter how hard he fast he tried to run through the snow! Stopping for a few moments to catch his breath, he squinted up to the top of the hill to see that Alfred was almost to the top! There was no way he would be able to catch up with him now.

Stepping backwards to give himself a running start, Arthur started to run up the hill once again dragging the sled with both of his hands to relieve some of it's weight until he finally managed to reach the top where Alfred had already reached more than few moments before him.

"You had an unfair advantage! You're taking the sled next time if we do this again!" he grumbled loud enough for Alfred to hear, still miffed that his friend kept running away from him. Arthur thought it was unfair that Alfred challenged him to these sorts of races if he knew he would win them. If they were going to have competitions then it should be at something that they were both good at.

Once he reached the top, Alfred panted and looked over at Arthur. Taking one final deep breath, he smiled. His smile turned into a chuckle. Arthur was right about it being unfair but like he would ever admit it. It'd be too hard of a blow to his gigantic pride and ego he had going on for a seven year old.

"Just because I won," he replied, grinning mischievously. He wouldn't show the sympathy he perhaps held for Arthur - other boys said that all that sappy feelings thing was for girls. That was Matthew's reasoning for poking fun at him when he cried anyway. Not like it was his fault, his tears just welled up uncontrollably sometimes. He was worried that someday he wouldn't have enough tears for when he really needed them.

The two boys continued sledding down that hill with eagerness. Following their excitement, a couple more trips and slips came of it. Once Alfred had finally calmed down, he caught his breath and picked up the rope to his sled. They were going to call it a day.

"Hey Arthur," he began.

"Yes...?" He replied looking up to Alfred in interest as soon as the boy had said his name. After all of the exercise the two had done today his legs would certainly be aching for the rest of the week! He couldn't remember any other times when he had run around for so long apart from when he was much, much younger.

His brothers being quite older than himself seemed to hold no interest with playing with their younger brother whether it be in the snow or just in general. So it wasn't often he went outside with them or played with anybody apart from himself but now that he and Alfred were friends maybe they could go out like this more often.

"Merry Christmas," he said, grinning and showing off those pearly-whites. With a deep breath, he picked up his sled in one hand. He was a bit worn out from the sledding, mostly because of the amount of effort it took to climb the hill. Usually, he and Matthew would go a couple more rounds before giving in when they didn't have the effort to get up there but seeing as Arthur was pretty exhausted - it seemed like a good time to stop. "Your present will be awesome, you just wait 'til you open it!"

"Merry Christmas to you too" he smiled back, tugging at the scarf on his neck. After all of this running around his thick winter clothing was starting to become uncomfortably warm.

Thinking about what Alfred had said, Arthur had almost forgotten it was Christmas in only a few days, it had to be one of his favourite seasons as it was the only one where the weather wasn't uncomfortably hot and the streets were always decorated with flashing lights and large Christmas trees that were ever so pretty pretty to look at when it got dark. He and his mother had always gone down to the town centre when he had still lived in England and it was easily one of his favourite things to do.

"Oh...I hope you like yours as well," he replied. Arthur had only bought Alfred's present a few days ago but he and his mother had spent what felt like hours upon hours looking for something to buy the American until finally finding something that he thought his friend would like, it was the first time he had bought a Christmas present for someone that wasn't for his family so hopefully it would be good enough.

"I'll walk you home kay," Alfred told Arthur grabbing Arthur's hand. He saw the look of anxiety in Arthur's eyes when he took hold because usually he would pull him at a speed he wasn't comfortable with. However, today he didn't. Alfred walked calmly trailing the sled behind all the way to Arthur's house perhaps partially due to his own exhaustion. He even started swinging their arms as they walked. When they got there, they said their goodbyes and Christmas wishes.

Alfred make his way home happily after an eventful day and full of excitement for the upcoming events of Christmas as well as the blossoming friendship between Arthur and himself.


	4. Winter Kisses and Puppy Dogs

The snow that had fallen over the last month or so was finally starting to fade away. It was only a thin layer on the ground now so the familiar crunch of snow under Alfred's feet was not quite gone just yet. Although, this didn't stop the chilly January breeze from sending shivers down his spine. Alfred was still wrapped up in his winter coat, scarf and gloves - ready for another day at school. He kicked the snow as he walked and made his way to Arthur's house with his bag slung around his shoulder.

Eager to see his friend again and tell him everything that happened over the weekend, he knocked on Arthur's door and waited as patiently as possible (which wasn't very patient at all) for him to come and walk to school with him.

Hearing the familiar knocking on his door that always seemed to occur at around this time on a school day, Arthur stood up from his table where he had previously been eating breakfast and started walking up to the sink. For around 2 weeks now he and Alfred had been walking to school together, ever since the first time they had done so the blond had turned up outside of his house every morning without fail waiting for Arthur to walk to school with him - not that he was going to complain. It was nice to have a friend to walk with and he enjoyed the company somewhat.

"Just a second!" Arthur called out, quickly throwing his empty bowl into the sink and washing it hastily before grabbing his bag off of the table along with his coat and running up to the front door to greet who he assumed was his friend.

Finally opening the door he was greeted with the usual grin that Alfred always seemed to wear, showing off his pearly white teeth with a large smile. As the expression appeared to be infectious, Arthur couldn't help but return the grin.

"Good morning," he smiled before slipping on his shoes that were next to the door and closed it behind him - since his parents had already left for work there was no reason to tell anybody he was leaving. His brothers were the only ones in the house and they were used to him leaving without asking by now.

"Mornin' Artie!" he chimed, happy to see his friend again since their absense of seeing one another over the weekend. He pulled his bag up from slipping down his shoulder as he waited for Arthur to shut the door behind him. He thought about all the things that had happened and if he'd have enough time on the way to school to tell him. "Let's go!"

With a slight skip in his step, Alfred walked alongside Arthur on their way to school; telling him all about the adventures over the weekend such as he and Matthew had a snowball fight on Saturday in their yard then proceeded to get told off when Alfred missed Matthew as he ducked and hit the next door neighbour's cat. The cat wasn't very amused at all and started to yowl. Alfred decided that he would never have a cat if it was going to make dreadful noises like that. Dogs seemed like a much better option - yes, he'd certainly ask for a dog. A big dog that can eat any robbers that tried to attack his house. Maybe a labrador. Alfred liked labradors.

Arthur laughed lightly at his friends story, the idea of a cat getting hit with a snowball did snow quite funny but he couldn't help but feel sorry for the cat. If Arthur was a cat he knew he wouldn't appreciate getting hit with a cold snowball so hopefully the poor thing wasn't too affected by being attacked by Alfred, even if it was unintentional. Listening to the rest of friend's rambles and strange stories, the two mindless chatted away with each other for the remainder of the trip, sharing the stories of how their weekend had gone whilst Alfred continued to complain about the lack of snow on the ground compared to the last 4 days.

Finally reaching the school gates with much time to spare the two were greeted with the site of their school playground filled with the usual hectic children running two and throw, screaming and yelling to each other and overall making it look like a frenzied mess. Just as it always was and always had been.

"Do you want to go inside or wait in the playground...?" Arthur offered. If he was alone it wasn't a question if he was to go inside or not (it was much too cold to be running around in this weather) but seeing as his friend was with him it seemed like a good to let him chose.

Despite the cold weather, the playground was rather crowded and jam-packed with other children from the school. There was a chance it would be crowded inside too but that was unlikely if so many were outside. It seemed reasonable that the kids wanted to play in the snow; snowball fights and building snowmen was fun after all but the amount of the white crunchy snow beneath their feet was wearing thin now. Surely there wasn't enough to go around. Alfred was lost in his thoughts before he noticed that his friend had asked him something.

"Uhhh, we can go inside I guess, it's super cold," he responded, thinking about it. Mom always said that it wasn't good to spend too much time in the cold because it would mean he would get sick. That's why she said Matthew got sick in the first place anyway and Alfred certainly did not want to end up like his twin. He had a icky runny nose and coughed after every sentence. Alfred was convinced that he put on the cough sometimes to get more time off school. Mom let him get away with anything.

The warm seemed like a nicer place to be anyway. The idea of some cozy heat seemed like the best option right now and he was sure that Arthur would prefer to go inside too. Arthur was a bit of a wuss in Alfred's opinion so he thought he wouldn't like being thrown snowballs at, he didn't like it last time anyway. Mom assured him that being big-boned was a good thing and kept him big and strong.

Arthur just nodded at his friend's response before starting to walk through the playground with Alfred. He always hated how the playground was so busy and hectic at this time of day, the continuous threat of getting some type of football kicked towards you or a smaller child ramming into you seems to be ever constant. So when the two of them finally managed to get past the screaming children and into the main building of the school it would be an understatement to say that Arthur was quite relieved.

Taking off his coat seeing as it was much too hot inside of the building to be wearing one, he decided to hold it underneath his arm until they reached their classroom. Thinking back to what lessons he and Alfred had today. Arthur remembered that first period was Maths, and then English which he and Alfred weren't in the same class for - which was understand since Arthur knew his friend wasn't very good at subjects like that, but seemed to be reluctant to accept any help even though Arthur had offered it to him.

"Don't you want to take your coat off? It's really hot in here I think they've turned on all the radiators today," Arthur asked thinking it was much too stuffy to be wearing a thick winter coat in a building like this.

"Yeah, it's hot in here," he told him with a nod, slipping off his coat from his body as well as his scarf and gloves. He smiled at Arthur as he was released from a cage of heat once they got inside. He wiped some of the sweat from his forehead which he was sure when it had built up considering he had been in the winter cold only moments ago. His ears were beginning to throb from the sudden heat change much to his discomfort.

He hadn't quite finished telling Arthur everything that happened over the weekend and he wasn't sure if he would be able to keep it in until break but he knew if he started telling him in class he was sure to get told off.

The two continued to chatter mindlessly to each other, speaking of unimportant subjects as they often did until the school bell loudly interrupted their conversation signalling that it was time to class. So with wordless wandering down the corridor, the two young boys walked into their Maths class with little expectation for such a boring lesson only to walk back out an hour later, saying their goodbyes to each other and walking to opposite classes.

English had been somewhat of a bore to Arthur, he enjoyed the subject but their teacher had been absent leaving them with a supply teacher that obviously had no idea of what they were doing and barely succeeded to control the class at all. These were easily the days that Arthur hated the most. So after the boring lesson had ended leaving Arthur substantially more tired than he had done before entering the classroom, he headed off to the playground and sat down on one of the benches outside - but not before putting on his coat, he didn't want to get sick after all.

The lunch hall was much too crowded for Arthur to even consider wanting to sit inside the warm building, so he would just brace the cold for the next 20 minutes or so as he usually did on most days.

It had been a long English lesson. Alfred wasn't very good at English so he generally didn't like the lesson - that and his teacher was super mean. He preferred things like Science. Science was very fun especially when they got to do experiments. Maybe one day he'll conduct an experiment on himself and he can turn into one of those cool superheroes from his comic books that he loves. He was whining to himself as he hurried out, holding his scarf close to his neck. Some idiots from the class above him had tried to steal it from him because they were mean like that. They were just jealous because he had a scarf and they didn't - he concluded.

"Hey Artie!" he called out, waving in the air at Arthur who must have been sat on the bench for a while now. He took a seat next to him and leaned on Arthur's leg with his hands(feeling comfortable with the closeness.) "Sorry I'm late, some stupid-heads tried to steal my scarf,"

Arthur looked up when Alfred called his name, slightly annoyed that his friend had made him wait so long for him to arrive but still pleased that he had turned up eventually. Shifting along the bench he moved his bag from the space next to him so that Alfred would have somewhere to sit, but this didn't seem to stop the boy from sitting as close to Arthur as he could without actually sitting on his lap and putting his hands onto his knee. Not that he really minded, after being friends with Alfred for a couple months now he had gotten used to how tactile the blond would sometimes act.

He furrowed his brows at the mention of someone trying to steal someones scarf, he figured it was the same people who had once tried to do the same thing to him. Arthur could never understand why people would sometimes act so mean to one another, there didn't seem to be any reasoning behind it and all it did was make people upset. If he ever made someone upset there was no doubt he would feel guilty for weeks!

"Oh no that's horrible, but you don't have to say sorry it's not really your fault." Although he was a little bit annoyed at having to sit by himself for so long, especially when it was so cold, it seemed silly to blame Alfred for something that he didn't really have much control over.

He was happy that Arthur wasn't phased by inability to be punctual or at least didn't appear to be bothered in the least. He was right after all, it wasn't exactly his fault that older kids tried to steal something from him. The teasing only started when he became best friends with Arthur but he didn't really mind. It was a small price to pay for Arthur's friendship and that was okay. He wondered why they had decided to point out his flaws that they ignored earlier now he was friends with him. He decided not to question it and get back to the stories he had been holding in.

"Look, I lost a tooth last night!" he exclaimed. He opened his mouth wide to show the gap in his teeth where he was missing a tooth. He pointed to it joyfully with his finger. "I got money from the tooth fairy and everything!"

"That's great" Arthur smiled, marveling at the gap that was prominent in Alfred's shiny white teeth. Arthur hadn't lost any of his teeth in a while now but when he did the tooth fairy always managed to visit his house just as it had visited Alfred's, he was surprised how one fairy could visit so many houses! It didn't seem possible, so maybe there was more than one tooth fairy, lots and lots of fairies that collected teeth and brought them back to their little houses and then did whatever they did with teeth that made it so important to collect every single one of them. The idea of it made Arthur grin, it just seemed silly.

"I haven't lost any of my teeth in a while now" Arthur mused, maybe that meant he was out of spare teeth, he wasn't sure what the proper name for teeth that fell out for seemingly no reason. But it seemed they were always replaced, it left him wondering just how long his teeth could be replaced for. When he was older would his teeth still fall out? He made a mental note to ask his mother about it once he got home.

"So anyway," Alfred began with a nod, thinking back to what he was going to ask him. "I was talking to my mom last night and she was explaining this thing to me and I thought maybe we could try it,"

He took his hands off Arthur's legs as he moved his hands around whilst he spoke. It was a habit he picked up off his mother after all. Sometimes Matthew would laugh when he did it but it seemed like a habit he wouldn't find himself dropping any time soon. He was a little bit nervous about his following request but it was simply a way to seal their friendship.

"Oh? Okay, what was it you wanted to do?" Arthur questioned. He was confused to why Alfred seemed to be nervous about what he was going to ask, in all the time he had known his friend not once had he seen the blond to be nervous or apprehensive about anything, so for him to act like this was definitely out of the ordinary and confusing to him.

"C-Close your eyes," he didn't realise his stutter and wondered if Arthur had noticed it. He waited impatiently for the other boy to fulfil his request. He hoped this whole ordeal would go down well. Mom said it was a good thing, a nice thing between people who really like each other and Alfred was very sure he really liked Arthur. What would he do if Arthur didn't feel the same way?

Arthur blinked in confusion but complied anyway, closing his eyes and waiting for Alfred to say something else. He hoped his friend wasn't going to play some sort of trick on him, it seemed like he might do but Arthur decided to trust him. If they were friends then they should trust each other. "Okay... What now?" He asked, not liking the uncomfortable silence that was between them.

Alfred could feel his heart beat faster in the anticipation which was strange. Why was he so nervous? He placed his hand on Arthur's clothed shoulder and edged closer. Despite the cold, his cheeks felt hotter than ever as he pressed his puckered lips against Arthur's cold ones. It wasn't quite how he expected it to go as their noses collided messily and somewhat uncomfortably when their lips were mushed together. There was an awkward silence as their lips were against each other until eventually Alfred pulled away from him with a heavy blush on his cheeks. Arthur looked back at him with the same redness to his face; obviously expecting an explanation.

"Mom says it's called kissing...you know that weird cooties exchange, she says you do it to people you really really like and I really like you so um I thought we could but...it was kind of weird," he rushed to explain, touching his lips lightly.

"Oh...uh...um..." Arthur stuttered unable to form any words properly, he could already feel his cheeks were flushed a light red colour and Alfred's were not far from the same, he almost wished that he could blame the his red cheeks on the cold weather but knew it was not the case. Arthur didn't understand why Alfred had kissed him, that was only what lovers did together. That's at least what he thought, and he and Alfred were certainly not lovers, nor anything more than that. He desperately hoped that Alfred didn't have any strange feelings towards him because he knew he couldn't return him, it was much too strange. They were both boys, and boys shouldn't kiss other boys.

"You can't... Uh... Alfred you can't kiss people like that, I think it's only for boyfriends and girlfriends..." He stumbled over his words once more, annoyed that he was unable to form a proper sentence without tripping up or stuttering.

Alfred knew that it was always boys and girl kissing on the television, at the end of movies and in the media but he didn't see the problem with two boys kissing too, what was wrong with that anyway? If he really liked Arthur there shouldn't be anything wrong with it is since his mom said it was shared between two people who really liked each other. Alfred didn't think he had any weird feelings towards Arthur.

"But we are boyfriends aren't we?" he asked obliviously; not quite sure he understood what Arthur meant by boyfriends and girlfriends. They were boys and friends so surely they were boyfriends. "Or we can be?"

Arthur paused for a second, unsure of how to answer the question Alfred had asked. He wasn't sure what exactly you needed to become a boyfriend or girlfriend, but it definitely didn't seem right for he and Alfred to become boyfriends. Especially since they were so young, only adults seemed to get into relationships and he had never heard of two 7 year olds getting into any sort of relationship, the idea of such a thing sounded absurd.

"I don't think we can be boyfriends...Isn't that something adults do?" Arthur thought over it for a second, if Alfred really wanted them to be boyfriends then shouldn't they wait until they were older, then it wouldn't be so strange. Although, he still thought it was odd for two boys to be dating each other. "Maybe we should wait until we're older...then if you still want to do it we can kiss...and other things."

Alfred thought hard about this. What he was saying was right after all, he never did see any children his age being in boyfriend and girlfriend relationships - not until they were older. Even the older kids, he didn't hear much about two boys being boyfriends. Older boys seemed to like girls a lot but the idea of kissing a girl seemed absurd. He'd get cooties for starters and he was sure he'd much rather kiss Arthur. Was that a strange way to think?

"I suppose so," he agreed hesitantly, almost disappointed but he wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was better suited for adults. "But I'll be the best boyfriend ever when we grow up okay!"

Arthur laughed lightly with a smile. The idea of being boyfriends with his best friend did seem silly, but if he and Alfred where to live together one day then they wouldn't have to live with any strange girls like the ones who went to his school or have pink rooms with pink, glittery things all over them. Because that's what all the girls in his class seemed to like.

"Okay. But we should make a promise," he suggested, pausing for a second as he stopped to think and fidgeting on his seat slightly. If the two were really going to be boyfriends one day then they should certainly have some sort of agreement. "If when we're...30 and if we haven't already found a person to live with then we should live with each other. Like best friends but different, and we could do all of those things you wanted to do with the kissing and such since we will be grown ups by then."

A promise huh? It sounded like a good plan. Alfred was sure that regardless, he and Arthur would always be together. They were going to be best friends forever, he couldn't imagine a life without him right now. He hoped it would stay this way even if mom did say that nothing was more important than family.

"Sounds good to me! It's a plan!" he told him with a grin. "We're gonna be best friends forever 'kay!"

Arthur nodded in agreement, smiling a toothy grin back at Alfred. Now he and the blond had made a pact of sorts, he was certain that their friendship should last for a long time. Maybe even until they were adults or older! Being grown up sounded like such a distance to Arthur that he couldn't even comprehend what it would be like to be an adult. There were so many things that could happen to them in the future that neither of them could have ever seen coming. But either way, he was happy to be friends with Alfred. No matter how silly the boy sometimes acted.

Opening his mouth to speak again Arthur was interrupted by the shrill ringing of the school bell, sadly indicating it for time for them to go back inside and to their next lesson. Quickly shoving his belongings that had been taken out of his bag previously Arthur stood up and waited for Alfred to do the same.

"We don't want to be late, so hurry up!" He urged, hating the idea of been 'tardy' or anything of the sort.

Alfred nodded vigorously as he collected his things and stood up, brushing off some of the snow that had landed on his arm. He kicked some of the snow from under his feet before hurrying after Arthur who had already started walking towards indoors. He didn't really want to go back to lessons but since he'd be with Arthur, he guessed it'd be okay. Small talk was made as they headed inside.

"And so I said, there's no way, everybody knows that superman would kick his butt!" Alfred exclaimed as he walked beside Arthur on their way home. Arthur was going to be staying at Alfred's for dinner.

"I don't see why you get into fights over your comic books in the first place," Arthur furrowed his brows in confusion, not really understanding why Alfred often got so riled up about these superheroes that he liked so much.

Hitching up his sactual that had fallen off of his shoulder slightly, Arthur looked across both sides of the road before crossing it and reaching the pavement on the other side with Alfred walking next to him. For what felt like the first time in a while, although it had only been a couple weeks, Arthur was going to go to Alfred's house instead of his own after school. But luckily he quite enjoyed going over to the blond's house and had gotten over his initial anxiety about being there, Alfred's parents were so kind to him that it was hard to not feel welcome in their home.

"It is a very important matter Artie! Nobody should diss Superman like that," Alfred attempted to explain as he leaned his hand forward to grab the door handle of his front door. He opened it with little resistance since it was always open around this time so it was easy for Alfred to get inside when he came home from school. He walked inside with Arthur and shut the door behind them. "I'm home mom!"

"Come to the lounge, we have a surprise for you sweetheart," came the call of his mother's soothing voice. The American boy tossed his bag on the floor and hung up his coat and scarf. He quickly tore off his gloves and set them aside then briefly waited for Arthur to do the same.

Placing his bag down next to Alfred's, Arthur looked up to see what his friend had done with his coat before doing the same, hanging it up on the hooks located above the door and frowning when he had to stand on his tip toes to reach it. Even though he was a couple centimeters taller than Alfred he still wasn't tall enough to reach anything that the adults could seem reach with ease.

"Do your parents know i'm here?" he asked, turning towards Alfred and waiting for his friend to reply.

"I did tell them this morning," he remarked. "Come on, I wanna see the surprise,"

Alfred gestured for Arthur to follow him as he made his way towards the living room. The door was open so he made his way inside. The first thing he heard was the sound of a very high pitched bark. His blue eyes lit up with excitement as he glanced around at the smiling faces of his twin and his parents then down to the happy blond labrador pup sitting with it's mouth open and tail wagging rapidly.

"Artie! Artie look!" he cheered, pointing to the puppy. He laughed giddily as he made eye-contact with his mother who nodded. Alfred sat down on the floor in front of the dog and grinned cheekily as the pup made some steps towards him to sniff his hand.

Crouching down next to his friend Arthur couldn't help but smile at the sight of the small puppy in front of them. Watching closely as the tiny animal hesitantly walk forwards and start to sniff and stare inquisitively at Alfred's hand he laughed lightly along with his friend, only smiling wider when the puppy seemed to grow more confident in their present and started to lick Alfred's outstretched palm with its small tongue.

"It's so little" he marveled, stretching out his palm in a similar manner to how Alfred had done before slowly petting the puppy, scratching behind it's small, soft ears and smiling as he did so.

Alfred nodded as he pet the small puppy with Arthur. The puppy seemed to enjoy the attention from the two children and let out a small happy bark. Matthew chuckled from his seat, swinging his legs and watching the two fuss over the labrador.

"Is he mine? Do I get to keep him?" Alfred questioned joyfully, looking at his mother with big blue eyes almost pleadingly.

"Of course you do sweetie, he's a boy, name him whatever you like," she told him, brushing some of her blonde locks behind her ear as she kept a watchful eye over the friends. Alfred paused to think of something he could call the small pup. What was a good name for a dog? He wasn't black so he couldn't call him batman. He glanced over at Arthur wondering if he had any good dog names.

Looking back at Alfred questionly Arthur paused for a second, trying to think of any names that would be suitable for a dog but finding himself unable to come up with any. At least, none that wouldn't be considered silly or 'old' in Alfred's opinion.

"I can't think of any...Why don't you name him after one of those super-people you like" he suggested, staring up at Alfred one more time before look back at the excitable puppy. He seemed to graving for all of the attention the two boys could give him and was excitedly wagging his tail, looking up at them with big, pleading eyes which easily convinced Arthur to bring his hand back to the puppy's small head and start petting him again.

"Hmmm," Alfred pondered about the different names he could call his dog. Arthur had a good idea about naming it after a superhero. Superman? Nah, that wouldn't cut it. Batman was unfitting. Captain America was too long, he couldn't use more than one name so that threw a lot of superheroes out of the window. He wasn't green so he couldn't call him Hulk - although that did sound rather silly as well. The puppy stared back at Alfred with bright eyes. He sure was affectionate and that look in his eyes...almost...protective.

"I've got it!" Alfred announced, grinning from ear to ear as he gave the lab another rub behind his ears. Both his mother and father turned their attention to Alfred. "I'll call him Hero!"

"Hero..?" Arthur blinked, looking down at the yellowish coloured dog in front of him. The name seemed quite silly, although not completely out of the ordinary he had certainly heard of dogs called Hero before. But then again it almost seemed to suit the excitable puppy now he thought about it and if Alfred was happy with it then he couldn't be one to complain, after all it was his dog.

"I like it" he smiled, looking over to Alfred and watching as the puppy once again as it excitedly fussed over the boy. Looking him over and affectionately licking his hands in a way that could only be seen as playful.

"Then Hero it is," Alfred cheered, petting the lab in front of him who nuzzled against his hand with enthusiasm. Dogs lived a long time - Alfred was sure. It was crazy to think Hero would be alive until he was an adult! He wondered what life would be liked as an adult but now wasn't the time to be consumed by those sorts of thoughts.

He'd just have to wait and see.

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**A/N: **Sorry for the huge wait and slightly shorter chapter? We promise to get the next chapters out much sooner!


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